Gerald Neugebauer
Encyclopedia
Gerald 'Gerry' Neugebauer (born 3 September 1932) is an American astronomer
known for his pioneering work in infrared astronomy
.
Neugebauer was born in Göttingen
, Germany
and is the son of Otto Neugebauer
, an Austrian-American mathematician
and historian of science
, and Grete Bruck. After moving to the United States at age seven, he received his A.B. in physics
from Cornell University
in 1954 and his Ph.D. in physics from Caltech
in 1960, with a thesis on the photoproduction of negative and positive pions from deuterium
.
During his military service with the U.S. Army he was stationed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and worked for the Ordnance Corps until 1962. He joined the Caltech faculty in 1962 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor of physics in 1970. He was named Howard Hughes
Professor in 1985 and Chairman of the Division of Physics, Math and Astronomy in 1988. He is currently the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Physics, Emeritus.
Neugebauer served as the director of the Palomar Observatory
from 1980 to 1994.
Neugebauer is internationally recognized as a pioneer in infrared astronomy, and played a leading role in infrared studies of the planet
s. In addition - and largely through his activities with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
(IPAC) - he led both ground- and space-based infrared studies of the star
s, the Milky Way
and other galaxies
. Observations by him and his colleagues at Mount Wilson
and Palomar observatories revealed thousands of infrared sources in the sky, and afforded the first infrared view of the galactic center. Together with Robert B. Leighton, he completed the Two-Micron Sky Survey
, the first infrared survey of the sky, which cataloged more than 5,000 infrared sources. Together with Eric Becklin
, he discovered the Becklin-Neugebauer Object
, an intense source of infrared radiation in the Orion Nebula
that is (except for the Sun) the brightest object in the sky at wavelengths less than 10 micrometres.
Neugebauer played a major role in the design and construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii
. Among Neugebauer's numerous awards are two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals (1972, 1984), the 1985 Space Science Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
, the 1985 Richmyer Lecture Award, the 1986 Rumford Prize
, the 1996 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
, the 1998 Herschel Medal
, and the 2010 Bruce Medal
. He was named California Scientist of the Year for 1986 by the California Museum of Science and Industry
, and he was elected to the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Philosophical Society
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
and the Royal Astronomical Society
.
Neugebauer is married to the geophysicist Marcia Neugebauer
, a pioneer in solar wind
research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
. Both are retired and live in Tucson, Arizona
.
(Neugebauer's first name is pronounced "Gary", not "Jerry").
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
known for his pioneering work in infrared astronomy
Infrared astronomy
Infrared astronomy is the branch of astronomy and astrophysics that studies astronomical objects visible in infrared radiation. The wavelength of infrared light ranges from 0.75 to 300 micrometers...
.
Neugebauer was born in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and is the son of Otto Neugebauer
Otto E. Neugebauer
Otto Eduard Neugebauer was an Austrian-American mathematician and historian of science who became known for his research on the history of astronomy and the other exact sciences in antiquity and into the Middle Ages...
, an Austrian-American mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and historian of science
History of science
The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....
, and Grete Bruck. After moving to the United States at age seven, he received his A.B. in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1954 and his Ph.D. in physics from Caltech
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
in 1960, with a thesis on the photoproduction of negative and positive pions from deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
.
During his military service with the U.S. Army he was stationed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
and worked for the Ordnance Corps until 1962. He joined the Caltech faculty in 1962 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor of physics in 1970. He was named Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
Professor in 1985 and Chairman of the Division of Physics, Math and Astronomy in 1988. He is currently the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Physics, Emeritus.
Neugebauer served as the director of the Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
from 1980 to 1994.
Neugebauer is internationally recognized as a pioneer in infrared astronomy, and played a leading role in infrared studies of the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s. In addition - and largely through his activities with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
The Infrared Processing and Analysis Center is the NASA science center responsible for the data processing, analysis, and archiving of NASA's infrared astronomy and astrophysics missions...
(IPAC) - he led both ground- and space-based infrared studies of the star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s, the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
and other galaxies
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
. Observations by him and his colleagues at Mount Wilson
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles...
and Palomar observatories revealed thousands of infrared sources in the sky, and afforded the first infrared view of the galactic center. Together with Robert B. Leighton, he completed the Two-Micron Sky Survey
Two-Micron Sky Survey
Two-Micron Sky Survey, or IRc, or Infrared compact, or Caltech infrared catalog is the astronomical catalogue of the infrared sources published in the 1969 by Neugebauer and Leighton....
, the first infrared survey of the sky, which cataloged more than 5,000 infrared sources. Together with Eric Becklin
Eric Becklin
Eric E. Becklin is an American astrophysicist, best known for his pioneering study of infra-red sources at the center of our galaxy....
, he discovered the Becklin-Neugebauer Object
Becklin-Neugebauer Object
The Becklin-Neugebauer Object ' is an object visible only in the infrared in the Orion Molecular Cloud. It was discovered in 1967 by Eric Becklin and Gerry Neugebauer during their near-infrared survey of the Orion Nebula....
, an intense source of infrared radiation in the Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light...
that is (except for the Sun) the brightest object in the sky at wavelengths less than 10 micrometres.
Neugebauer played a major role in the design and construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Among Neugebauer's numerous awards are two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals (1972, 1984), the 1985 Space Science Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
, the 1985 Richmyer Lecture Award, the 1986 Rumford Prize
Rumford Prize
Founded in 1796, the Rumford Prize, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. The prize recognizes contributions by scientists to the fields of heat and light...
, the 1996 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research.-Previous lecturers:This list of lecturers is from the American Astronomical Society's website....
, the 1998 Herschel Medal
Herschel Medal
The Herschel Medal is a medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, awarded for outstanding work in the area of observational astrophysics.-Herschel Medalists:*1974 John Paul Wild*1977 Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson*1980 Gérard de Vaucouleurs...
, and the 2010 Bruce Medal
Bruce Medal
The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. It is named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patroness of astronomy, and was first awarded in 1898...
. He was named California Scientist of the Year for 1986 by the California Museum of Science and Industry
California Science Center
The California Science Center is a state agency and museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Billed as the West Coast's largest hands-on science center, the California ScienCenter is a public-private partnership between the State and the California Science Center Foundation...
, and he was elected to the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
and the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
.
Neugebauer is married to the geophysicist Marcia Neugebauer
Marcia Neugebauer
Marcia Neugebauer is a prominent American geophysicist who made important contributions to space physics. Neugebauer's pioneering research yielded the first direct measurements of the solar wind and shed light on its physics and interaction with comets.Neugebauer was a primary investigator of the...
, a pioneer in solar wind
Solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
. Both are retired and live in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
(Neugebauer's first name is pronounced "Gary", not "Jerry").
Prizes
- 1986 Rumford PrizeRumford PrizeFounded in 1796, the Rumford Prize, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States. The prize recognizes contributions by scientists to the fields of heat and light...
- 1996 Henry Norris Russell LectureshipHenry Norris Russell LectureshipThe Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research.-Previous lecturers:This list of lecturers is from the American Astronomical Society's website....
- 1998 Herschel MedalHerschel MedalThe Herschel Medal is a medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, awarded for outstanding work in the area of observational astrophysics.-Herschel Medalists:*1974 John Paul Wild*1977 Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson*1980 Gérard de Vaucouleurs...
- 2010 Bruce MedalBruce MedalThe Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. It is named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patroness of astronomy, and was first awarded in 1898...